I stayed at Edgefield in Troutdale, heaps of fun and a very cool hotel!
Yes, it is. We walk our dog and take guests there sometimes. The McMenamin brothers and their families have done a nice job with their properties.
Same! It’s great to be there for concerts.
The spa and pools are great, too.
@Lokstar, great points. To our knowledge, multiple jurisdictions consider housesitting (and some other volunteering) as employment with in-kind compensation. We believe that this has been the legal situation for many years. We understand that what makes recent/current situation different is the intensity of enforcement by border agents, acutely so in the US. We are not aware of any jurisdiction even considering a relevant visa.
We had 200-400 US listings favourited. Now we have zero.
We mad multiple saved searches related to US. Now we have zero.
We completed a handful of enjoyable US housesits. Now we’re done with US and don’t expect to return in the medium term.
Big world out there.
I don’t think this is true. I have had occasion to raise an issue and it was dealt with effectively by member services, although perhaps not in the fastest way. I’ve read similar accounts of others who complained about another member and that member had their account suspended if only while the details were hashed out. Background checks are required of most or all members.
Only sitters based in the U.S. are required to get background checks.
Out of the blue this week, two of my prior THS sitters reached out asking if we were (or wanted to) travel in October as they were planning to be back in the area. We are planning to travel but in our motorhome with our pets, so we had to decline as we won’t need a sitter (they both also asked if we were around to just get together socially but of course as we’ll be gone that was a miss also).
I didn’t realize it was getting difficult to locate quality sits, I guess that explains sitters looking to repeat sits they liked (and do so off platform).
Out of curiosity, I looked at the dates one of my prior sitters were trying to fill (that they reached out to us about privately). Only 5 available sits and of those only 2 look good. I was curious because these sitters are awesome and have a gazillion 5 star reviews to back up their awesomeness, so I assumed they would have their pick of sits.
When I posted in late spring for our September sit, there were already dozens of sits listed around that timeframe. I wonder if the supply/demand imbalance is reaching equilibrium faster than I thought it would. I guess HO that didn’t get sits filled have started bailing on the platform (at least in the US, and of course this is one example so not exactly evidence of a broad trend).
@Felinelover, sounds great. We do exactly that action periodically.
Some prior pet parents have expressly told us to contact them if we’re free and nearby, as they’ll take opportunity to book a trip. And we observe that other prior pet parents seem to live opportunistically and enjoy travel.
Recently, we had a two week gap in December. Reached out on exploratory basis to specific prior pet parent and they were simply delighted to book a two-week trip to sunny Mexico 
.
On similar vein but other direction then there’s a subset of our prior pet parents with whom we connected on a personal level. If they asked, we’d try hard to drive car or hop a plane to help them out. Indeed we sometimes have - with spouse/I in two properties to assist a prior pet parent in need.
THS does not advertise, encourage or highlight such interactions. Just people trusting to create win-win outcomes.
Oh totally, and these sitters know that even we aren’t ‘sitting’ the guest room is certainly theirs if available. They have stopped by before, just this time around we’ll be ‘winterizing/shutting down’ the house before we head off for 3-4 months, so we can’t meet up with them this time. Kind of a bummer, they were fun and interesting. Loved hearing their stories of adventures in sitting, which mirror many of the experiences on this forum. Well maybe they will find sits in Alaska next summer and we can connect then 
I guess what prompted my curiosity was that before it was a few days ‘filler’ here and there onto new sits in much grander accomodations (totally fine, as we weren’t travelling and didn’t need sitters at the time) as they seem to land many sits they apply for. It was just odd the block of time they had this time, so I looked and see not much out there. Well, I hope more opens up for them. Either way they do have family in the area (and they can certainly afford an Air bnb) so I’m sure they’ll be fine.
On the whole site there are only 5 sits available for a particular set of dates? That doesn’t sound right.
No, just in my area.
Ah. Apologies. I clearly misunderstood the situation.
Kudos on you for periodically hosting stray housesitters, if that’s the right adjective!
Hope looking forward to seeming winter adventures.
Last winter, we were someone’s alternative to ‘winterizing/shutting down the house’. Friends of friends approached us, off THS, with splendid cocktails to ease the conversation 
. Canadians. Snowbirds for three months in winter. Rather than winterizing property then asked us to housesit (no pets). Gave them peace of mind, and saved them cost of insurance-mandated house inspector every few days. And for us a simply lovely property for an extended stay, with access to great ski hill 
. Win-win. Perhaps an illustration of what we’ve encountered many times … once pet parents get over the initial understandable anxiety of having someone in their home then they start to gain comfort and see opportunities.
We did consider a THS sitter, but we want the flexibility to come and go as we like. We don’t have any insurance mandates but do have friends and neighbors stopping in to keep an eye on things.
A brilliant analogy & an insightful observation, @Maggie8K . (One might even describe it as precisely “on-target.” 
)
I was interested & delighted to see both yourselves & @Felinelover ‘s similar experiences wrt the informal / off-book relationship-building between community members.
Going into 2 years/30-ish sits now myself, I’ve settled into a similar ethos & pattern that I feel works for me. In fact, am on a sit now that I hopped a plane for because host was in a bind, & I adore the pets & the hosts have become friends over time. Even my applications have evolved to make it clearer that I’m focused on finding good fits on all sides, between people who click & see the sit as a relationship (without making it “weird!” )
While recognizing that THS supports many models in terms of what works best for different people, I feel like the above is a good niche/use case for my preferences. Reading others describing similar experiences & tactics, in many ways it feels almost like a community within a community. How encouraging!
@MerryPuppins, what a great story. Kudos on 30+ housesits. Glad to hear that you’re similarly building relationships. Ultimately we’re [mostly] all just people trying to find win-win outcomes. But once in a while, a friendship is created and a common bond formed. We sometimes see that potential in video calls, when there’s an easy fit.
Some time ago on THS Forum, we doodled reflections from full-time housesitting that attempted to profile a few mindsets of pet parents that we’ve encountered. No statistical cleverness involved. And definitely no ‘right answer’, as objectives vary. Just doodles.
Great to hear that you’re finding what works for you. Through our housesitting adventures, we’ve learned quite a bit about ourselves nevermind pet, other people or geographies. That insight helps to find better future outcomes.
As an aside, the rooms can be very noisy. I actually found the women’s dorm at Edgefield to be quieter/calmer than staying in the far pricier hotel rooms.